Microstrategy Enlists AWS to Deliver BI in the Cloud

To SaaS or Not to SaaS: 2015 Enterprise App Outlook

Looking to address a long-standing business intelligence issue that has plagued IT organizations for as long as anyone cares to remember, Microstrategy this week announced the general availability of its BI software on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud.

Previously, Microstrategy provided its applications as a cloud service using its own data center facilities. But given the breadth and global reach of AWS, Hugh Owen, senior vice president for product marketing at Microstrategy, says it makes more financial sense to make use of existing AWS infrastructure.

Owen says Microstrategy Secure Cloud running on AWS makes it possible deploy BI applications in as little as five minutes, which gives IT organizations an unprecedented level of agility when it comes to BI application software.

While many independent software vendors (ISVs) initially decided they needed to control their own infrastructure when they rolled out their first software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, many of those same ISVs are now questioning the wisdom of that decision. Rather than tying capital up on IT infrastructure, working with cloud service providers such as AWS enables those ISVs to focus their resources on application development.

Of course, IT organizations can still opt to deploy Microstrategy software on premises. But barring some regulatory requirement that AWS can’t address, chances are a lot more BI software is soon going to be delivered as a service than ever was deployed on premises.